1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device, a drive circuit for the display device, and a method of driving the display device, and particularly, to a drive circuit of a liquid crystal display.
2. Description of the Related Art
Display devices are important for providing visual information. Liquid crystal displays are thin, low power consumption, and light, and therefore, are widely used for portable information equipment such as notebook-type personal computers and word processors. Semiconductor integrated circuits (ICs) for driving the liquid crystal displays must be simple and small.
The liquid crystal display (LCD) panel is driven by a dedicated integrated drive circuit. The drive circuit receives display data from a main device such as a personal computer and converts it into data voltages suitable for the panel.
By the way, if display data for a CRT is supplied as it is to the liquid crystal display, or if the number of pixels contained in display data does not fit that of the liquid crystal display, the displayed image will be disturbed. Therefore, the conventional display must have the dedicated display controller to convert input display data into that suitable for the display.
Note that the dedicated display controller increases the number of parts of the drive circuit, needs a large mounting space, consumes power, and deteriorates the versatility of the drive circuit. This problem occurs not only in the liquid crystal displays but also in other displays. Prior arts and their problems will be explained in detail with reference to drawings.